Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Croatian Novak Djokovic will go head-to-head for the 52nd time in their careers to decide who moves on to the 2018 Wimbledon final.
Nadal will play for a chance to win his second straight Grand Slam tournament of the year. Just last month Nadal won his 11th French Open and now will face Djokovic in a final for the first time since the 2016 Qatar Open when Nadal won 7-6 and 6-3.
Djokovic leads the all-time head-to-head series 25-26 but if Nadal triumphs he will play in his 25th Grand Slam final and his sixth Wimbledon final.
Nadal has a 3-2 record in finals at the All-England Tennis Club, with his last victory coming in 2010. His other victory came in 2008, while he lost in 2006, 2007 and 2011 when Djokovic beat him in four sets.
Djokovic has won one more Wimbledon trophy than Nadal but has played in one less Wimbledon finals than the Spaniard. While the Croatian has played in just four Wimbledon finals he has a record of 3-1, with his victories coming in 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Djokovic is trying to reach his 22nd Grand Slam final and his first since 2016 when he won both the Australian Open and the French Open.
The last time these players met in a Grand Slam final was in the 2014 French Open when Nadal defeated “Nole” in four sets (3-6, 7-5, 6-2 and 6-4).
This will be the 14th time these players meet in a Grand Slam tournament with so far, the record favoring Nadal 9-4.
Djokovic has won seven of their last 10 matches, but Djokovic has not defeated Nadal in a Grand Slam final since his 2012 victory at the Australian Open.
Nadal and Djokovic are slated to play in the second semifinal of the day as American John Isner and South African Kevin Anderson will clash in the first one.
While John Isner’s victory against Canadian Milos Raonic in the quarters was expected by many as he was the highest seed of the two, Anderson pulled the upset of the tournament as he defeated Roger Federer in the quarterfinals in five sets after losing the first two.
Nadal played a grueling five-set match against Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro to get to the semifinals, while Djokovic defeated Japanese Kei Nishikori in four sets. Both players have lost just two sets on their way to this semifinal match.
